Any ideas on why Egypt switched to the Hakim from the FN 49

UCSPanther

UCSPanther

BANNED
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
EE REVOKED
Rating - 100%
16   0   0
Location
Yahk, B.C
I have two theories floating around on why the Nasser Regime tried to switch from the FN 49 to the Hakim.

One theory is that they were possibly looking for a cheaper rifle, or when the Monarchy was overthrown, they were possibly cut off of parts and service for the '49 and had to switch over.

Anyone have ideas why they tried to swap over to the Hakim.
 
UCSPanther said:
I have two theories floating around on why the Nasser Regime tried to switch from the FN 49 to the Hakim.

One theory is that they were possibly looking for a cheaper rifle, or when the Monarchy was overthrown, they were possibly cut off of parts and service for the '49 and had to switch over.

Anyone have ideas why they tried to swap over to the Hakim.
Click to expand...

where they building the fn49 , or buying it ?

if i read my history corectly they bought all the tooling from the swedes to make the hakim themselves ......
 
UCSPanther said:
From what I understand, they were buying the FN 49...
Click to expand...
They were buying FN49 from Belgium. The FN was not cheap rifle to make so the price goes accordingly. The Jungman was a good design, i guess Egypt found it appeling. Hakim have less parts than the FN, i bet cost a lot less to manufacture and they must had the tooling cheap too,.
 
There were also some legal problems at the time and a self imposed embargo.

Egypt was buying up all of the weaponry it could get its hands on. Look at the unmarked Mausers for sale at Marstar.

They wanted a supply that wouldn't be effected by world opinions and bought up a bunch of old machinery from the Swedes. They also reverse engineered the equipment to produce the Rashid, a downsized version to handle the 7.62x39. The Soviets, were just starting to have influence in the area at the same time and soon converted their thinking towards the cheaper and extremely reliable SKS, CZ52/57 and AK47 platforms. They also influenced the vast majority of their military thinking and equipment. It was much cheaper than the European/US offerings and more suited to their purposes.

Russian equipment is cheap and reliable. It is durable and it doesn't take well educated soldiers to operate it. At the time, they could buy 3 Russian T63s for the price of one Centurion or US Mark 5. The French and Belgian offerings were even more expensive.

Same thing for the small arms, it was cheaper and they could make as many as they needed or wanted without any influence from outside the country. They also had a few billion rounds of 8x57 in storage to utilise.
The FN49 rifles were bought prior to the of the monarchy and the receivers are marked with the royal crests.

Egypt also bought lots of SKS and model 52/57 rifles.

Many of the 303 British rifles released onto the surplus markets in the early sixties came from Egypt. They also dumped hundreds of thousands of Hakims and Mausers into the rest of Africa.
 
I own both - The Hakim is a well built rifle but the FN is in a different class. And if my Egyptian FN looked like my Venezuelian when it was new, well....Can only imagine what they cost shiny new.
 
FN and the Egyptian government signed a production contract starting on May 30, 1948 fior which final delivery occured on June 10, 1949, 100 rifles chambered to fire the 8X57. While initially a small contract delivery Egypt would eventually purchase 37,602 SAFN 1949 rifles total. This wasn't a small contract - that is a large purchase order.

The other info is also true. Egypt bought the tooling from the Swedes to start produicing a variant of the Ljungman called the Hakim and went into prtoduction in the 50's and 60's. The Hakim is still in war reserves and occaisonally one see's militia units armed with the Hakim. Been watching the news recently?

The Hakim was replaced by the AK47.
 
Beretta made a hakim 22 training rifle that used super sport .22 magazines. I got a few of them from israel in the 80's.
 
The Hakim is much easier to manufacture and is remarkably immune to sand and dirt.
Its muzzle brake is very effective and it is as accurate as can be for a mass-produced semi-automatic rifle.
What's not to like?
PP.
 
Last edited:
cyclone said:
Hakim-Thumb....:eek:...:p
Click to expand...

Two kinds of people...

i) Those that can see the humour in the misfortune of others.
ii)...others!

Seriously, given the nature of the action...it would certainly be a "Bad thumb day" but, when used as designed (safeties ON!!!) fingers and, thumbs are quite safe...Your hand/fingers only go near an open action when loading. Designed to load with strippers, your "palm" is what goes in...

By 3rd generation (Rashid) a charging handle was added but, fingers still go near while loading.
 
They probably just wanted to bulk up the troops considering the Hakim weighed as much as a small car
 
Colonel Nasser was trying to chart a completely independent course for Egypt, one which included local industrialisation. The FN was a nice rifle but really expensive. Yes, they DID look as good as the Venezelan ones when they were new. I have seen a new Egyptian and they are a work of art.

Nasser himself is an interesting study. Khrushchev and Eisenhower, later Kennedy and all the rest, were really trying to court Nasser to get him on their side. The Soviets had supported Israel until it was established, then did an about-face after the US aid started pouring into Israel, started being friendly with the Arab/Muslim world and denouncing Israel as a tool of US Imperialism and all the rest....... this despite the fact that Russia held the bulk of the world's Jewish population butwouldn't let them (or anyone else) out.

Nasser and Sadat both had worked for the Axis during War Two, something not generally known. And one very important point: Nasser was not an Arab. He had an Arab name, but he was from the same stock as Ramses II.... and he knew it. "Colonel Nasser is the first EGYPTIAN to rule Egypt since Alexander the Great..... and he knows this. He is an EGYPTIAN and he does what he thinks is best for EGYPT." (Dr. Charles W. Lightbody, 1969, spoken to myself).

The course was obvious: local manufacture of a modern rifle. It was only AFTER Russia started pouring in the equipment that the Maadi factory was converted to the manufacture of the Kalashnikov series of firearms, following upon local manufacture of the Rashid.

Hope this helps.
.
 
smellie said:
The course was obvious: local manufacture of a modern rifle. It was only AFTER Russia started pouring in the equipment that the Maadi factory was converted to the manufacture of the Kalashnikov series of firearms, following upon local manufacture of the Rashid.
Click to expand...

It is too bad that the Rashid was a dead end.

Political considerations aside, I think the Rashid could even have have been the better weapon, simply with the addition of a larger capacity detachable magazine and a simplified magazine catch, allowing it to be used as such.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom